Week IV:
March 30, 2023
This week, the topic was decided to be focused on searching the national archives. If you’ve been reading my blogs so far, I’ve been focusing on the controversial Three Sisters Bridge in Washington D.C. The Three Sisters Bridge was supposed to run over the Three Sisters Island, but the bridge was heavily opposed by some people in D.C. due to destroying their communities and environmental pollution into the river. As suggested by my senior project advisor, I decided to search the National Archives for possibly more information relating to the Three Sisters Bridge. So far, all my research has been focused on the Washington Post historical database to see what I could find on people’s opinions on the bridge. This time, searching through the National Archive would be a different experience.
https://catalog.archives.gov/search?page=1&q=three%20sisters%20bridge
After going through the archives, I found 427 pages of sources (a lot!). After some discussion, I decided to choose the files from Record Group 65 (FBI) at the College Park location. Three are listed on the website. Their descriptions all start with WFO.
All that was left was to write the email to the National Archives, and that’s exactly what I did.
To Whom It May Concern, I am a high school senior at BASIS Independent school in McLean, VA. For a senior project, I am doing research on the history of freeway revolts in Washington D.C, and on the planned Three Sisters Bridge. My outside advisor is Dr. Thomas Zeller, Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland, College Park.
I am writing to request access to these three files from Record Group 65 (FBI) at the College Park location:
WFO, [Washington, DC] – 157-2679-v.1 [Classification – Civil Unrest] — Demonstrations Against Construction of Three Sisters Bridge, Washington, D.C; WFO, [Washington, DC] –
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5421842
WFO 157-2679-v.2 [Classification – Civil Unrest] — Demonstrations Against Construction of Three Sisters Bridge, Washington, D.C; and WFO, [Washington, DC] –
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5421843
WFO 157-614-v.4 [Classification – Civil Unrest] — Marion Barry — Demonstration Protesting Construction of Three Sisters Island Bridge.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5421006
Please let me know when I can visit the College Park location to access these files for my historical research.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely yours,
Arthur Hu
6922 Berkeley St, Falls Church, VA 22043. 703-909-5229
8000 Jones Branch Dr, McLean, VA 22102. https://mclean.basisindependent.com/